Thursday, 28 May 2009

New Owner Revealed

I believe I have followed a trail to discover just who the new owner of West Ham is. Firstly, let's go back a stage or two to set the scene. It has been openly discussed in the media that Straumur Burdaras and a consortium of banks that BG borrowed from, have got together in order to acquire West Ham. So how does that work?

Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson bought West Ham with loans from the Icelandic investment bank, Straumur Burdaras and then he injected a further £30m borrowed from other banks. Straumur were a well run bank but got into trouble when the Icelandic economy drove over a cliff and many of their investments went bust including the £85m borrowed from them by BG's holding company Hansa, for him to buy West Ham.

Straumur Burdaras are currently in moratorium themselves. The moratorium is not bankruptcy, administration or nationalisation but merely provides for a 'breathing space' during which Straumur's management can restructure its financial position under the supervisory eye of the Financial Supervisory Administration (FSA) in Iceland. The credit crunch saw Straumur lose 700 million Euros last year but they were only very marginally insolvent by around €20m and the big straw that broke their back was the £85m owed by BG's holding company Hansa.

The moratorium process expires on 11 June 2009 and by that date, a newly structured Straumur will be up and running on approval from Iceland's FSA board who will then step down. A completely new, self-financing business plan which includes the asset of West Ham United, instead of the whopping great hole of a bad debt of £85m in their accounts. Two weeks ago Straumur announced that they had sold their shares in eQ Bank in Finland for just over €37 million further improving their liquidity situation.

It seems a strange decision to us in the UK, that a bank should invest in and run businesses. It just doesn't happen here but Straumur Burdaras have a history of acquiring and running businesses very successfully. For example, their ownership of eQ Bank that they just sold. A few months earlier they acquired a retail furniture chain in Denmark. Just this week, it was announced that they financed a management buy-out of London based H&B Foods, a large speciality cheese wholesaler and supplier in the UK with a near £80m turnover. A spokesman for Straumur Burdaras said: “The Cheese Company will be profitable from day one. We agreed to help finance the deal because we believe in the management’s vision for the business and its future prospects. We are delighted that PHA Media are advising us on all aspects of our communications strategy”. What and/or who is PHA Media I hear you say?

Well, Phil Hall was West Ham's Communications Director until he resigned his directorship last year. His problem was that as a successful owner of PHA Media (Phil Hall Associates Media), he had a fear of getting struck off from holding any directorships should problems arise with West Ham's finances. That was one of the things that alerted me to the possibility that BG was up to his old, fraudulent shenanigans. Phil Hall remained as an advisor to West Ham but stopped sitting in on board meetings as a director. Another director resigned at the same time for the same reasons.

Phil Hall's clients includes – West Ham United still, Portsmouth FC, Carlos Tevez, Kia Joorabchian, Manchester City, Paul Gascoigne and Avram Grant! Now there are some names to conjure with. Joorabchian is our transfer consultant? He was also involved in trying to get Kaka to go to Manchester City for £100m in January. Portsmouth have just been sold to an Arabian billionaire who admits to having discussed the possibility of buying West Ham before opting for Portsmouth. A strange set of coincidences that doesn't end there.

At the moment Straumur are being run by an Icelandic government appointed committee but the owners of Straumur are devising the strategy to get them back up and running on a self-financing basis. On June 11 when Straumur comes out of moratorium, the directors of Straumur will return and effectively they will be the ones that are to run West Ham! One of them will almost certainly be our new chairman.

According to the shareholder list from Straumur's website, Samson Global Holding are Straumur's largest shareholders. The main owner of Samson Global Holding is -

Bjorgolfur Thor Björgolfsson - Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson's son!

BG also has shares in Samson but the company is mostly owned by Bjorgolfur Thor who was also Straumur's Chairman before the Icelandic government's intervention. Thor does not have a criminal record for fraud like his father has and I have heard that he has become an avid West Ham fan so he cannot be all bad! He is also the Chairman of Actavis, a pharmaceuticals giant involved all around the world so he was a very much richer man than his father was . Whether he is still very rich or not is another matter.

So BG is to no longer be our Chairman but guess what? His son Thor probably will be any time soon!

Very interesting BB. How did you dig that lot up?I knew BG's 'boy' had more money and wondered what had happened to him in light of everything crashing around Icelandic ears.All said and done, will it be good for WHU in your opinion?

I've read most articles on this blog but tend not to comment unless I have a good knowledge about it, I do read a bit about BG and his son and I stumbled across this, it's a link to an Icelandic persons view on his country and BG & son, and I've added a pic for you hammersfan you may find it funny due to the morons that post comments on here it is safe,

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson (born 19 March 1967 in Reykjavík, Iceland), known internationally as Thor Bjorgolfsson is an Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur, and former chairman of the financial firm Straumur-Burðarás and chairman of investment firm Novator Partners.

He has been declared "Iceland's first billionaire", and was ranked as the 249th-richest person in the world by Forbes Magazine in 2007—up from 350th the previous year—with a net worth of $3.5 billion. The Sunday Times Sunday Times Rich List (2007) lists his net worth at £2,000 million. However, following the 2007-2009 financial crisis, Björgólfur's net worth declined to $1 billion (as of march 2009).

He is heir to a long lasting family legacy in Icelandic business and politics; His great-grandfather was the legendary Danish-born Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Jensen, who all but introduced the term "big business" to the country in the early years of the 20th Century.

Björgólfur chose to go to the United States in 1986 when his father Björgólfur Guðmundsson's bankrupt firm, Hafskip, was embroiled in a financial scandal involving fraud and embezzlement.

In 1991, he graduated with a B.S. from New York University and opened a brewery in Russia.

Although experiencing difficulties at first, his Bravo Brewery became a success on the premium beer Botchkarov. He later sold that venture to Heineken for $400 million and returned to Iceland to gain interest in numerous ventures there.

In 2002, his holding company gained 45% share of Landsbanki, Iceland's second largest bank, in a controversial privatization.[1] [2] Landsbanki was declared to be acting contrary to the interests of the United Kingdom and placed on a watchlist usually used for the blocking of funds to terrorist organizations by the British government after bankruptcy in October 2008.

In 2003, he bought a ruling share of the largest Icelandic shipping line Eimskip and the investment company Burðarás. He has since sold Eimskip to the Avion group. He has or had stake in four of the ten largest Icelandic businesses.

He is also chairman of Actavis, has significant holdings in Bulgarian telecommunications, and acquired Indian research company Lotus Laboratories.

In 2005, he also acquired 25% share in Polish telecommunication company Netia.

The Actavis Group acquired the New Jersey based generic drug company Amide Pharmaceutical for US$500 million in 2005.

As the richest man in Iceland, he has been heavily criticized for his actions leading to the 2008–2009 Icelandic financial crisis.[3]

1703, I think you will find that banks in this country OWN other businesses but do not RUN them. The distinction may appear subtle to you but it is far from subtle in the operational world of business.

17:03 It is a pedantic point that some banks own businesses but most of those businesses you quoite are are insurance and thereby banking related. Southern Water is a public utility which makes it risk averse. Hardly a valid point to a story about our owners though!

Yep, when I open a Barclays account I get bread rolls, a TV, a car, Wimbledon tickets, a holiday in Barbados...Do some of you guys think before you reply? In fact, can some of you guys think? Dear God!

people that sell bread rolls get financial advise from bank's that they put the money they make into and by having a business account your paying for that advise thus the bank being involved with bread roll sales in turn making my point that any business could be by your logic, banks are not the exclusive owners of insurance it's just an easy way to make money and try not to be so rude

Thanks for the elementary lesson in economics but people who sell bread rolls get financial advice but not advise! There is a difference but nowhere near as big as the difference as to whether banks run businesses like Football clubs or not! I'll be as rude as you are.

I will step in here. Billbansky will not reveal that information. He would be bloody stupid to do so in the light of certain people who reply on here. The hate posts are bad enough, he would be out of his tree to open himself up to it in real life. I can confirm that he is indeed a director of a plc company.

ANONYMOUS, you go first. Identify the towns, companies and roles. And try registering so we know each time which brave ANONYMOUS is posting! Glass houses spring to mind! The thing is, Billbansky has been in email contact with me and I have checked out his credentials - I don't want to risk a legal action and some of his stuff is near the knuckle. So, ANONYMOUS, let's have your details for all to see first eh?

Fanny, just would like to let you know again that i was not the one posting on a different thread about WHUFC accounts and reports. Was notified whilst away that my name was mentioned and took a look for myself. Please also thank your friend Transparent Irons for mentioning my name is such light !!! Wrighty

Wrighty, you seem to be in the frame a lot. I don't know why that is. Why not register as Wrighty on here, or carry your name on each of your replies, like that nobody will attribute stuff incorrectly to you will they? I don't give a proverbial monkey's toss personally, but it clearly annoys you when people say it is you when it isn't. Who is Transparent Irons? My old mate Old Skool perhaps? He doesn't seem to keen on you does he?

Only the third?fourth time i have posted and always sign off with my name. Dont get too much time nowadays with postings unfortunately. Don't think it would be OSP, we've had our spats in the past and he would have the balls to front it out and leave his name. Wrighty

ps, am i in the frame a lot? As said before i have had a lot of time to look over everything WHUFC, over the last few weeks have only posted a handful of times on Org. Nice to see you also thought it was Del, meaning you compare me and Del as knowledgable as each other which i will take a complement as Del is quite a fountain of knowledge in the busines world from what i can gather. Wrighty

No can do i am afraid, I have a few new jobs and projects going on, which have kept me busy for the last few weeks, month. After taking a good few months off i thought, only rightfully, that i re commence and do a little work. thouoght i would be back in UK full full time, but the boogers have got me travelling already which should die down in the short term otherwise i will tell them where to go. So, as far as getting involved happens i cant. Although have 1 week off next week, which will be spent on Org when i get free time, but i hear you are still there so no doubt you will be chatting with me if i am there!!! Wrighty

I will but you won't know it is me! Try to spot me! I will reply to you at least once. Good luck with the work. Remember, sell two thirds of the way down and buy one third of the way up. My prediction for recovery in Feb 2010 is looking spot on to me!

If it is his son, then we might be okay... BG gave him $1Billion when he was 21.. Thor is part of Advent International who are a big VC... and is astute business guy, and knows how to turn a business into profit. I met him in 2005 after his VC firm bought a mobile operator in Bulgaria... They made them a success...and as far as I know he does his own thing and very different from his old man

From Tom

Hammersfan, I am a British soldier ... just home from the winter in Afghan, I was at the Boro cup game where my boy took a half time penalty during my leave ...

I love your blogs .... keep em coming .. its great fun and I love all the saddo's that criticise you ... free country, freedom of speech ... we all have a choice n all that ... well if you don't like .... read the Sun ..

(Cheers Tom, an endorsement like that would outweigh 15 million idiots wanting to close this site down.)

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